Dive Brief:
- Charles Schwab Corp. is restructuring the leadership team at its banking unit, as Charles Schwab Bank CEO Paul Woolway heads for retirement this summer, the company said Thursday.
- Tyler Woulfe, managing director of banking and trust services, will replace Woolway, effective July 1.
- At the parent firm, CIO Dennis Howard will lead a newly formed technology, operations and data organization. The change represents an expansion of Howard's role to include operations alongside technology and data functions, the company said. Howard will continue reporting to Charles Schwab Corp. CEO Rick Wurster.
Dive Insight:
As the banking unit’s CEO, Woulfe will report to Neesha Hathi, who herself will get a new title.
Hathi will lead a newly created wealth advisory and banking services organization focused on deeper relationships with individual investors and advisers through expanded wealth advisory and lending capabilities.
Hathi’s role expand from “wealth and advice solutions,” effective July 1, to include Charles Schwab Bank.
Woolway isn’t the only executive retiring. Mitch Mantua, Schwab’s general auditor, is also slated to retire July 1. Jessica Bramhall, managing director of internal audit-corporate, will succeed Mantua.
Mantua will leave Schwab after roughly a decade. Woolway, meanwhile, will depart after 16 years. Prior to joining Schwab, he served as chief administration officer at Bank of the West.
Howard’s expanded role comes as AI ushers in enormous change, with CEOs pushing to realize the technology’s benefits. In some cases, companies are turning to CIOs to take on additional responsibilities and connect data and infrastructure with outcomes.
Nearly two-thirds of executives said AI has reframed their roles within the organization, according to a December report from IT management vendor Atera. The newly defined CIO role at Charles Schwab is a sign of the close tie between technology and enterprise operations.
CIOs are navigating expanded responsibilities and facing pressure to deliver tools that will create return on investment. Nearly eight in 10 executives believe AI will start significantly contributing to enterprise revenue by 2030 as the technology redefines business operations, according to a study published by the IBM Institute for Business Value. Yet so far, delivering ROI has been a challenge for enterprise executives.
Financial services firms including Charles Schwab are investing in AI in search of productivity and efficiency gains. Wurster said greater AI use led to cost and efficiency savings during an investor call in January 2025.
A year later, Wurster said the firm is still relying on the technology to improve internal processes.
“With more than 220 use cases, we are leveraging artificial intelligence to help our professionals serve clients more efficiently,” Wurster said during a business update Jan. 21. “We also continue to automate high-volume client requests, improving accuracy, speed and our client experience.”
